Kee Wong, second from right, attends a Medicare enrollment clinic for help from Council on Aging volunteer David Escoe, second from left, at the Lakeview Senior Center in Irvine. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Kee Wong listens during a Medicare enrollment clinic organized by the Council on Aging at the Lakeview Senior Center in Irvine. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Robert DeBerry, right, of Costa Mesa looks at his Medicare options with Council on Aging volunteer Judy Grant during an enrollment clinic at Lakeview Senior Center in Irvine. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Ombudsmen Lahoma Snyder, foreground left, asks a resident how she’s feeling at Anaheim Residential Care. The ombudsmen are trained advocates who watch out for the well being of people in long-term care. (File photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

David Escoe, volunteer with the Council on Aging, right, helps Kee Wong, left, at Council on Aging’s annual enrollment clinic at Lakeview Senior Center in Irvine. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Lisa Wright Jenkins, President & CEO, Council on Aging Ð Southern California says s her staff now supports seniors in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Yet her agency has been hit this year with a 10 percent cut in federal funds. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Robert DeBerry of Costa Mesa, right, gets some help enrolling for Medicare from Council on Aging volunteer Judy Grant, left, at the Lakeview Senior Center in Irvine. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Linda Cardoza of the Southern California Council on Aging explains Medicare options to seniors at the Lakeview Senior Center in Irvine. Cardoza is the Council on Aging’s program manager for the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A recipient of the SmileMakers program reacts after opening a gift. During the holiday season, the Council on Aging Ð Southern California, ives gifts to those who might otherwise do without. (Photo courtesy of COASC)

Lisa Wright Jenkins President & CEO, Council on Aging Ð Southern California in Irvine An organization called Orange County Healthier Together projects that by 2040 nearly one-fourth of local residents will be 65 or older. ÒImagine,Ó Jenkins suggests, Ò100,000 (more) seniors flooding the freeways.Ó (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Delores Prudham moves so close to Alvin Wolf that it appears the two are snuggling and that’s a shock — but not because of their significant age difference.

After all, she’s 88. He’s in his 60s.

It’s a shock because the two are in Laguna Woods council chambers and while decorum in most places is long lost, it certainly is not in these parts, thank you.

But it turns out Wolf is a volunteer for the Council on Aging of Southern California and the retiree is helping people age 65 and older get the best bang for their buck.

You see, it’s Medicare sign-up season.

The range of programs and services available to seniors in Southern California is so extensive that it takes a 112-page booklet published by the Council on Aging to detail them.

Still, there remains troubling gaps in assistance for seniors, a population that needs the most help yet too often is the most forgotten and easily ignored.

An estimated 7 percent to 9 percent of local seniors live at or below the poverty line.

More than a quarter-million seniors in California are victims of abuse. In Orange County alone, there are more than 7,000 reported cases a year and experts estimate five times that number go unreported.

Hundreds of thousands of seniors in Southern California have no one that helps when they need it.

Fortunately, there are private and public nonprofit partnerships that make a difference. For thousands of seniors in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the Council on Aging does more than save money.

For some, it arguably saves lives.

Some seniors have no one

All the baby boomers I know help their parents. Sometimes we joke a little, sometimes we whine a little. But in our hearts we know we’re lucky to have a parent still with us even if — no, make that especially when — that person isn’t quite the parent we once knew.

Up until my 89-year-old mother passed a year ago, Alice Whiting got along without much help. Dad, however, has needed a caregiver for years.

Still, our situation is relatively easy. Dad can afford help. One of my sisters is a family therapist. The other is a lawyer. And it’s only a half-hour drive for me to visit. Although Dad no longer says much, his smile says everything.

But too many seniors are isolated.

The Council on Aging reports some 14,000 area seniors have no one to look out for them. To make a difference, council staff and volunteers call, visit and advocate.

In a wide range of languages from Arabic to Vietnamese, volunteers donate more than 1,300 hours of their time.

Navigating Medicare’s maze

In Laguna Woods, dressed in a spotless white V-neck sweater topped by a navy blue shirt collar, black pants and gleaming white shoes, Prudham explains why she seeks help with the dizzying array of Medicare choices.

“I thought I could get something cheaper,” Prudham allows, “and I didn’t know how to do it.”

Understand, the short trip from what nearby residents call “The Village” wasn’t easy.

Struggling with the signs of arthritis that crippled my grandmother, Prudham leans on a red walker as she moves slowly and gingerly to a bus where an assistant helps her.

At first, Wolf sits across from Prudham. But even with hearing aids, communication is difficult. Wth Medicare font size designed for young whippersnappers, reading is no easier.

Wolf settles next to Prudham as she adjusts her thick glasses. Looking like the actor Paul Newman in his later years, Wolf guides his client through a stack of government forms.

Both are deliberate and patient and the session takes an hour. But every minute is worth it.

Typically, the Council on Aging of Southern California offers nearly than 11,000 individual sessions a year. The savings total more than $2 million a year.

By the time Prudham’s session is through, Wolf’s expertise promises to save her as much as $800.

“With my income,” Prudham allows, “that’s a lot of money.”

No adult left behind

Lisa Wright Jenkins is president and CEO of the Council on Aging, a position she accepted five years ago after serving the Girl Scouts of Orange County as vice president of business operations.

Still, her work with seniors dates back to when she was a 14-year-old volunteer at nursing homes in Akron, Ohio.

Since joining the Council on Aging, the 58-year-old former R.R. Donnelley executive has beefed up the council’s programs in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, recently added ombudsman services to Riverside County and increased the number of seniors served to 290,000 a year.

One program is something called the “SmileMakers Guild,” a holiday season effort that gives gifts to those who might otherwise do without.

“The measure of a county,” says Jenkins, “is how we treat our older adults. We sometimes lose sight of that.”

Step into the office of Jamie Cansler, council director of development and community outreach, and you step into something akin to a modern day version of Santa’s Workshop.

Already, there are stacks of boxes as well as unopened gray and tan packages. If it weren’t for the Irvine Company donating space, the deluge would soon bury Cansler.

In a few weeks, an army of volunteer elves will move into the Irvine Company site and start sorting and wrapping as many as 5,600 gifts — provided enough organizations and businesses contribute.

What is especially magical and meaningful is that each gift matches a senior’s specific wish.

“If someone wants slippers, they get slippers,” Jenkins promises. “If someone wants shoes, they get shoes in the right size.”

Cansler offers up a paper angel. It’s labeled with a name, age, code and gift wish. Eventually, it will be affixed to a gift-wrapped packaged which will then be delivered to a delighted senior.

“I cry all the time this time of year,” Cansler confesses, her eyes welling with tears. “This is my favorite program.”

David Whiting is the award-winning Metro Columnist at The Orange County Register. He also can be heard on radio, has served as a television news anchor and speaks frequently at organizations and universities. He previously was an assistant managing editor and has received Columbia University’s Race and Ethnicity Award, National Headliner awards and Sigma Delta Chi’s Public Service Award. He recently was invited to participate in an exchange program with Chinese journalists. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and his master’s from Columbia University’s Graduate School for Journalism. He is a two-time Ironman, a two-time Boston marathoner and has climbed the highest mountains in Africa and North and South America.

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